Civil Rights, Social Movements & Government — Problem set, Grade 11
5 focused units, followed by an evidence workshop, chapter review, and chapter quiz.
Review the key ideas
Civil Rights: Organizing, Courts, Legislation & Enforcement
Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 rejected racial segregation in public schools. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 addressed different forms of discrimination. Legal change required implementation, and different communities faced different barriers.
Social Movements: Gender, Sovereignty, Disability & Environment
War, changing demographics, court decisions, and mass media influenced these movements. Opposition and internal disagreement also mattered. This unit studies aims, methods, institutions, and outcomes rather than asking learners to join a movement or declare a personal identity.
The Great Society: Poverty, Education, Health & Federal Responsibility
The Social Security Amendments of 1965 created Medicare and Medicaid through different arrangements. Medicare initially supplied insurance principally for older people, while Medicaid involved federal-state assistance for specified eligible low-income populations. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 supported education through federal funding, including aid aimed at disadvantaged pupils. Head Start supplied early-childhood services rather than replacing every local school.
Watergate: Investigations, Executive Privilege & Accountability
The Senate held investigative hearings, and the House Judiciary Committee pursued an impeachment inquiry. In United States v. Nixon in July 1974, the Supreme Court rejected an absolute generalized executive-privilege claim against production of evidence required in a criminal proceeding. This did not abolish every form of confidentiality or resolve every possible national-security claim.
Economic Change Since the 1970s: Inflation, Work & Public Policy
Governments and voters debated taxes, regulation, spending, monetary policy, unions, and trade. This lesson studies historical proposals and evidence; it does not recommend a party or present current policy as settled. Distinguish policy aims, implementation, and outcomes.
Problem 1
Answer and explanation
The amendment supplied a right, but discriminatory practices obstructed it. Legislation strengthened enforcement. Registration records can show changes, while testimony and procedures help explain whether access improved fairly.
Separate a constitutional prohibition from enforcement tools.
Explain local barriers and implementation.
Compare registration procedures and participation before and after.
Response criteria
- Describe the historical context and institutions accurately.
- Connect relevant evidence to an explained conclusion.
- Represent particular perspectives without stereotypes or invented testimony.
- Identify an evidentiary limitation or a distinction that qualifies the claim.
Problem 2
Answer and explanation
Litigation required plaintiffs, legal research, fundraising, testimony, and community support. Direct action required planning, logistics, training, and sustained participation. These strategies could reinforce each other while organizations disagreed over priorities. Explain how a specific campaign altered institutional pressure rather than reporting only its most famous individual.
Problem 3
Answer and explanation
These campaigns all address power and rights but seek distinct changes. Wage agreements, hiring practices, and recognition of governing authority measure different outcomes. A fair comparison preserves those differences.
Match labor bargaining, employment access, and treaty authority to their institutions.
Explain a shared concern with power or rights without equating the goals.
Identify evidence of outcomes appropriate to each case.
Response criteria
- Describe the historical context and institutions accurately.
- Connect relevant evidence to an explained conclusion.
- Represent particular perspectives without stereotypes or invented testimony.
- Identify an evidentiary limitation or a distinction that qualifies the claim.
Problem 4
Answer and explanation
Sovereignty claims concern political authority and treaties as well as equal individual treatment. Disability access concerns the relation between environments, rules, and participation. Compare each movement’s actual problem and proposed mechanism instead of assuming all sought exactly the same form of inclusion.
Problem 5
Answer and explanation
The figures show greater recorded coverage, from 20 to 40 percent. Attendance improvement among participants is relevant but does not isolate the program’s causal effect because other changes and selection could matter. Comparable records over time, service information, and a suitable comparison would improve evaluation. These figures are an invented study aid.
Coverage changes from 20 percent to 40 percent.
Distinguish participation from educational outcomes.
Identify missing comparison and changing eligibility population.
Response criteria
- Describe the historical context and institutions accurately.
- Connect relevant evidence to an explained conclusion.
- Represent particular perspectives without stereotypes or invented testimony.
- Identify an evidentiary limitation or a distinction that qualifies the claim.
Problem 6
Answer and explanation
They addressed different needs through different institutions. Medicare initially concerned health insurance for older people, school grants supported education through funding arrangements, and Head Start concerned young children and families. Compare eligibility, financing, delivery, and aims before judging them as one undifferentiated policy.
Problem 7
Answer and explanation
The draft invents a Senate conviction. Committee approval recommended articles, while the Court’s decision concerned evidence in criminal proceedings. Nixon resigned before the full House voted and before a Senate removal trial. The sequence shows several sources of pressure without conflating investigation, impeachment, criminal adjudication, and resignation.
Identify the committee action.
Identify the separate judicial decision.
State that resignation preceded a full House impeachment vote and Senate removal trial.
Response criteria
- Describe the historical context and institutions accurately.
- Connect relevant evidence to an explained conclusion.
- Represent particular perspectives without stereotypes or invented testimony.
- Identify an evidentiary limitation or a distinction that qualifies the claim.
Problem 8
Answer and explanation
An allegation records a claim, while an institutional finding follows a particular investigation or procedure and has a defined scope. Dating each stage prevents later conclusions from being assumed at the beginning. Identify the evidence available and the institution acting at each point.
Problem 9
Answer and explanation
The model suggests purchasing power fell about 4.3% despite a nominal raise. It does not establish every worker’s experience or the cause of inflation; hours, expenses, and the index’s scope must be checked.
Pay rises 10%; the index rises 15%.
Relative purchasing power is 1.10/1.15, about 0.957 of its starting level.
A household’s actual purchases may differ from the index basket.
Response criteria
- Describe the historical context and institutions accurately.
- Connect relevant evidence to an explained conclusion.
- Represent particular perspectives without stereotypes or invented testimony.
- Identify an evidentiary limitation or a distinction that qualifies the claim.
Problem 10
Answer and explanation
Inflation concerns the rate of price change; unemployment concerns access to paid work. Stagflation names their difficult coexistence, not one universal explanation for it. Compare measures and causal mechanisms, recognizing that a lower inflation rate does not necessarily mean prices return to an earlier level.